The diary of a white girl in Arabia

Category Archives: welcome to the desert

Then I lifted something. Weird how that works! I’m going to make a T-shirt about it so I can wear it to remind The Mister of this wonderous discovery without having to verbalize it again. And again. And again. *cough*

We are FINE.

Last week, I decided to have a feast involving a turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes and glazed beets, and a few other things like pumpkin pie made from pumpkin that I roasted and strained into my very own puree. I’m a Martha-geek. By “Martha”, I am referring to the one in the Bible that gets told off by Jesus for being all up in arms about not getting any help in the kitchen. I side with Martha. Because, JESUS! This meal isn’t going to make itself! Unless YOU have something to do with it, but since you are just SITTING there…

Anyway… back to the feast. We invited our neighbours over to enjoy our festivities, which was so fun since I had not met them yet. We had been doing the whole plate-exchange-of-tasty-treats but we hadn’t managed to meet face-to-face yet. Our turkey gave us just the excuse we needed to right that wrong. And I’m so glad it sacrificed its life for us. So worth it! Not only did we get a tasty meal, but we made new friends. *cue sweet sigh*

They must have been impressed with our culinary display because they not only gave us a gift when they first came over (a misting lamp) but they also sent their children over the next day with a BIRD, complete with birdcage and birdseed!

Meet Sunny:
I had two thoughts when we first got Sunny: 1) I wonder if they are wanting us to fatten her up for next year’s turkey feast and 2) I’m going to kill that living-thing bird just like I killed my herb garden.

The positive thing is that she’s still alive. She’s also pretty smart. I found her stuck in her food dish the other day, but she managed to get her way out. By herself.

We have her cage up on the top shelf of our bookshelf in our classroom. I like to stand on a chair and check on her. I guess a giant head suddenly popping into view is frightening. I tell her that she’ll get used to it. I also like to say her name repeatedly, over and over, in a high pitched falsetto. She will like it.

You would think that a misting lamp and a real live bird would be sufficient gifts to say “Thanks for dinner!” But not in the shiny desert! A few days later, they sent over some special dates. The kind you eat, not go on. Then our doorbell rang, and they sent over a fresh fish!

I had never cooked an entire fish before. Thank God for YouTube! It was like butter!

Then, today, we were invited over to their house for a seafood feast: platters of crab, lobster and shrimp! Oh my! Followed up by 3 desserts! I rolled myself out of the house.